


The Roommate

by Lady_in_Red



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Ficlet, Fluff, Overhearing Sex, Roommates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-27
Updated: 2015-05-27
Packaged: 2018-04-01 13:47:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4022158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_in_Red/pseuds/Lady_in_Red
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Brienne learns that sharing an apartment can be awkward.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Roommate

Brienne was jolted from sleep by a loud bang. She opened her eyes, found the room still dark. Her bedroom door rattled in its frame as another door slammed.

A woman's almost hysterical laugh filtered through the closed door. Brienne’s roommate was home.

Jaime stirred behind Brienne, his arm tightening around her waist. "I hate your apartment," he muttered, pressing his face into the curve of her neck as if to block out the noise. 

"Go back to sleep," Brienne soothed, rubbing his arm. 

Brienne's roommate, Bella, was rarely home and kept to herself when she was there. Jaime had never met her, had teased for months that Brienne was making her up, and Brienne had barely spoken a handful of words to her in their few encounters. Bella had a keyed lock on her room and they communicated mainly through notes on the refrigerator. She worked strange hours and always paid her share of the rent in cash. 

Odds were good Bella would be gone again tomorrow, an unwashed mug in the sink and a black bra hanging over the towel bar the only evidence she'd been there at all. Jaime had all sorts of ridiculous theories about why she was never home. His current favorite theory was that she was a spy, possibly because he liked to play at interrogating Brienne, grinning and intoning in a terrible accent, "I have ways of making you talk." 

A muted squeak and thump roused Brienne again. The squeak repeated, then the thump, setting up a steady rhythm. 

Jaime groaned. "You have got to be kidding." His beard tickled the nape of her neck. 

“She might’ve said the same thing if she came home a couple hours ago.”

Jaime chuckled. “And you would have been mortified.” Two distinct voices, both moaning loudly, joined the noises from the next room. “I doubt she cares if anyone can hear her.”

Brienne wanted to protest, but Jaime was right. She still hadn’t totally shaken off her self-consciousness.

Jaime kissed her neck and shoulder, sighing contentedly. Having him pressed skin to skin against her from shoulders to feet was both a bit overwhelming and somewhat warmer than she preferred for sleep, but Brienne wouldn’t ask him to move. In some ways, Jaime could be just as insecure as she was, and Brienne had swiftly learned that pushing him away after sex was one of the easiest ways to hurt him. 

Brienne had brought this bed from her father’s house on Tarth. Nearly everything from her childhood bedroom had found its way to this shabby little apartment. The bed fit her large frame easily enough, but it was small for two.

She pressed back experimentally. “Are you getting hard listening to them?” 

The hand at her waist trailed up to cup her breast. “I was thinking,” Jaime said, exasperated, “about us earlier."

“We don’t sound like that, do we?” Brienne asked dubiously. 

Jaime nuzzled her neck. “Your bed doesn’t hit the wall.” His nose touched her jaw, then his lips brushed against her ear. “But you’re louder than her. Right before you come.”

The bang-thump was getting faster, the man grunting as Bella’s cries pitched higher and higher. 

“You’re no quieter,” Brienne grumbled, turning and burrowing against Jaime as her roommate chanted “Oh, gods” against the counterpoint of the bed hitting the wall. She was definitely going to lose her security deposit. 

Jaime kissed the top of her head, ran a hand slowly up and down her back. “You know, I don’t have a roommate.”

Brienne sighed. “Was that supposed to be subtle?” 

“Not really,” he admitted. “My apartment is larger, closer to your office, and the only strange visitor is Tyrion.”

On the other side of the wall, Bella let out to a long, shuddery wail, followed by a loud male groan, and the bed stopped squeaking. 

“Finally,” Jaime said, wrapping his arms more tightly around Brienne, his warmth and the clean scent of his soap surrounding her. 

They had been dancing around the idea of moving in together for at least a month already. Brienne's reluctance had nothing to do with his sumptuous yet impersonally decorated apartment, and everything to do with having nowhere to go if things went bad between them. 

“I’m not saying no. I just need some time.”

Brienne could feel him smile against her shoulder. “Like you did with me?”

“You were awful,” she reminded him. Jaime had delighted in pressing all her buttons when they first met. He still did. “But you grew on me.”

“You make me sound like mold,” he protested.

A door opened, footsteps and muffled voices moved across the living room. The front door opened, closed again. 

“At least you don’t kick me out immediately,” Jaime said with a yawn. 

Brienne didn’t dignify that with a response, just closed her eyes and let her breathing fall into sync with his.

When her eyes opened again, sunlight filtered through her curtains. Saturday morning, no need to wake Jaime. 

Brienne slipped out of bed and found her robe. She could tell as soon as she opened her bedroom door that the apartment was empty. The bathroom was still humid from Bella’s shower and there were torn satin panties in the trash. 

As Brienne had predicted, unwashed dishes were piled in the sink and a note lay on the kitchen counter. “Rent money. More next week!” Tucked under it: a crisp pile of twenties. 

Locked room, strange work hours, rent paid in cash right after Bella had fucked a guy in her room.  _Shit._ How many men had Bella brought here while Brienne was at work or sleeping over at Jaime’s? Bella had lived here for four months, since Brienne’s last roommate had moved out to get married. She’d been the first person to answer Brienne’s ad, and given a cash deposit on the spot. Brienne had been a little suspicious of that, but she’d needed the money and had still had six months left on her lease. She might be wrong, but it all added up too neatly to be a coincidence.

Maybe moving in with Jaime wasn’t such a terrible idea. He’d be insufferably smug about it, but that couldn’t be helped. It would make him happy, and Brienne could think of far worse ways to spend a day than in bed with a happy, naked Jaime. 

Brienne went back into her bedroom and found Jaime lying awake, his hair adorably mussed and the blankets slung low across his hips.

She dropped her robe, watched as his eyes followed its progress. “So I had an idea,” she said.

“Yes.” Jaime grinned. “Whatever it is, yes. Just come here.”

Brienne laughed and climbed back into bed. There were definitely worse fates than waking up next to Jaime every day. 


End file.
